Philadelphian With AIDS Tells of Sex With Many Boys

By MICHAEL deCOURCY HINDS,

Published: March 29, 1992

A man who has AIDS has told the authorities that he paid for sex with several hundred male teen-agers over the last several years, the Philadelphia District Attorney said today. The man was arrested earlier this week on several charges, including the statutory rape of a boy under 16 years old.

The District Attorney, Lynne Abraham, refused to give the man's name, citing a Pennsylvania law that she said prohibited the release of names and other information that would tend to identify people stricken with AIDS.

But in a news conference today, she said that the man arrested and his lawyer, who was also not identified, had agreed to allow the authorities to release his nickname, Uncle Ed, and a general description in publicly notifying people who may have had sex with him. Ms. Abraham identified him as being about 50 years old and said he lived in downtown Philadelphia.
Just a Warning

"The purpose of this announcement, which is made with the defendant's knowledge and consent, is not to create a panic," she said, "but is instead made with the express purpose of advising those young boys and men who may have had intimate sexual contact with this defendant that it is in their interest to take appropriate steps because of the fact that this defendant has AIDS."

Although officials did not make public the name of the man arrested, The Associated Press carried a report today identifying him as Ed Savitz, 50 years old, a resident of an apartment building in downtown Philadelphia.

Ms. Abraham said today that the man was being charged in two cases with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual abuse of children, indecent assault and corrupting the morals of a minor. The authorities said they believed there were a number of other sex partners, but they declined to provide any details.

The authorities said the man had had AIDS for at least a year and that he had carried H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, for at least one or two years before that. They would not say how they learned or confirmed that the man had AIDS.

Although the authorities said it appeared that all of the teen-agers agreed to have sex or to perform sexual acts in return for money, sexual activities of those under the age of 16 are by law considered involuntary.

The boys were between the ages of 15 and 19 and attended local public and parochial schools, Ms. Abraham said.

"Our information is that all of the males who came to Uncle Ed's apartment came willingly and did so for the purpose of being paid for their underwear, socks, bowel movements and for allowing Ed to engage in sexual contact with them," Ms. Abraham said today, reading from a statement. "These boys would be asked to tell their friends about Uncle Ed and ask them to do similar activities for pay."

Ms. Abraham said he was arrested on Wednesday and appeared at an arraignment on Thursday. He was being held on $3 million bail.

A conviction on the charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 5 to 10 years. An assistant district attorney working on the case, Charles Ehrlich, said no details would be released on when the case is expected to come up for a preliminary hearing, again in an effort to protect the man's rights.

At Mr. Savitz's address, an expensive high-rise apartment building with a doorman, neighbors said they had seen many young boys entering and leaving the man's apartment at all hours of the day and night.

One young woman, who refused to be identified other than by her first name, Robby, said she lived near the man and that the police had asked to use her apartment for surveillance a couple of weeks ago. The woman, who said she declined the authorities' request, described the boys she saw as mostly "heavy metal types," who wore black leather clothes and chains and had long hair. She said that the man "was not horrible, but seemed lost and wounded."

She and other neighbors said they had reported the situation to the building's management. One tenant said that the man had explained the boys' visits to his apartment by saying that he was a social worker and was trying to help them.
Health vs. Privacy

In discussing the decision to withhold the man's name, the district attorney's office sought to portray the matter as a public health announcement and defended the man's right to protection by the state's law.

"The law, as we understand it, does not allow us to disclose any more information without the consent of the person, and we made an agreement with the person to not disclose his identity in return for being able to release his medical condition to the public," Mr. Ehrlich said. "We're not going to get into a debate with people about something that is primarily a public health announcement."

But civil rights and constitutional experts questioned that position, contending that public health issues and the rights of the man's sexual partners outweighed his right to confidentiality.

Scott Burris, a legal expert, said that the state's confidentiality law, like that in many states, only protects the privacy of people whose H.I.V. records have been acquired through health or social service agencies. "Unless the police got the man's records through a health or social service agency, I don't know why they can't release the man's name," said Mr. Burris, an assistant professor at Temple Law School and chief counsel of the AIDS and Civil Liberties Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in Philadelphia.